So now that we’ve ascertained that DCI is definitely a beneficial nutrient to include in your diet, how do you get your hands on it? It is not the easiest thing in the world to find reliable scientificallly validated information pertaining to DCI and pinitol, especially upon which foods contain them and how much of which one! Essentially, the best food sources for DCI/pinitol are buckwheat, soy lecithin, chickpeas & carob (which contains pinitol).

Buckwheat

Of those, the buckwheat is the only one that I can provide referenced DCI values for. Minndak, a processor and supplier of specialty crop food ingredients, lists neutraceutical values for DCI content per 100gm as follows:

Farinetta (a trademarked product described as being a finely granulated mixture of the aleurone layer of the hulled seed and the seed embryo, the richest parts of the seed) contains 1371 mg.

Supreme Flour (described as containing a ‘certain percentage’ of the hull and endosperm) contains 384 mg.

Grit (described as being coarsely granulated groats) contains 64 mg,

Why the Grit and Groat products don’t have the same quantity of DCI in them if they are essentially the exact same product, processed differently is unfortunately beyond me. Also, they don’t provide the amount present in the whole seed, which is what is generally available to those residing outside the US, who don’t want to pay $120 in shipping for a packet of buckwheat farinetta.

From the Minndak website:

“Fagopyritols are specific carbohydrate compounds, first identified in buckwheat and named after the Latin name of this crop. Fagopyritols are mono-, di-, and trigalactosyl derivatives of D-chiro-inositol that accumulate especially in the embryo and the aleurone tissues of buckwheat. Among the plant sources, buckwheat is the richest in these carbohydrates. It has been reported that the bran milling fractions may contain 2.6g of fagopyritols per 100g of dry weight, whereas dark and light buckwheat flours contain 0.7g and 0.3g/100g , respectively. Published literature indicates that D-chiro-inositol could positively affect the blood glucose level and insulin activity (Fonteles et al, 1999, 2000; Ortmeyer et al 1993). Work done at the University of Manitoba (Kawa et al, 2003) has shown that buckwheat extract could be equally efficient in lowering blood glucose level and activating insulin as synthetic D-chiro-inositol. There is also evidence that D-chiro-inositol can help to control development of polycystic ovary (Nestler et al, 1999). However, the fate of fagopyritols in the human digestive system as well as the amount necessary to consume to achieve beneficial effects remain unknown and require further investigation.”

I have compiled the following table from various sources I have found on the internet, however, I have not been able to scientifically validate the information contained in it. On the other hand, neither have I been able to find scientific information invalidating it. Hopefully as time goes on and more interest develops in DCI, more research will be undertaken and this kind of information will be more readily available. In the interim, I provide this largely unvalidated table for general interest for those attempting to obtain a therapeutic dose of DCI or pinitol from food sources. The cells that are blank represent information I have come across indicating that those foods contain some DCI or Pinitol but for which I have not been able to quanitify the amount present.

Food Sources of DCI

Where Can I Buy DCI Supplements?

There are 3 places retailing DCI at the moment, however it is prohibitively expensive at the moment, so please do your research.

Chiral Balance have three different bottle sizes, a 30, 60 and 240 capsule lot. They range in price from $3.33 per 1200mg dose if you buy the small 30 capsule bottle to $2.67 if you buy their 240 capsule bottle, which will set you back $320 USD.

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6 Responses to Sources

I think it’s wonderful you are now also offering DCI however there are misrepresentations on this page as the quoted prices for chirallbalance.com are outdated (or inacurrate) as chirallbalance website has currently and I believe for a while now listed their prices as $59 for one bottle (60 caps x 600mg), $56 for two bottles (120 caps x 600mg), or $53 for four bottles (240 caps x 600mg).

Thus equates to $1.64 per gm or $1.97 per 1200mg dose for the one bottle. $1.56 per gm or $1.87 per 1200mg dose for two bottles. $1.47 per gm or $1.77 per 1200mg dose for four bottles.

Thank you for providing the current pricing information for Chiral Balance J. It has been several months since I put this information together. These prices were correct at the beginning of the year though. It’s really good to see that the prices for DCI are coming down now that there is a bit more competition in the marketplace! With any luck, one day Chiral Balance will be cheaper than me, as I’m sure they have much better buying power having been in the market for so much longer.

Updated July 25, 2013: The DCI sold by My PCOS Info still appears to be the cheapest on the market from as little as $1.52 per 1200 mg dose.

Yes we do ship to Canada. The cost is AUD $2.40 for 1-2 x 18 g packets, AUD $4.60 for 3 or more 18 gram packets or 1 x 100 g packet, AUD $7.10 for a 200 gm packet, regular Airmail – no tracking. Registered Mail is AUD $ 23.40 for anything up to 500 gm total weight and includes $100 insurance.

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